notably in the case of a French family kidnapped in northern Cameroon last year and reportedly freed for some $3 million. It also threatens business leaders in the North with abduction or worse unless they pay up. The international outrage sparked by the abduction also serves Shekau. He does n't care at all about international opinion but he knows it has put pressure on the government to reach out to him, Sani said. Just how that process might work is unclear, but Sani has called for a group of Islamic clerics and others to be set up to seek mediation. That would require recent laws banning anyone from having contact with Boko Haram to be waived. Few believe Boko Haram is going to wither away until the government addresses inequalities in the allocation of funds between the Christian oil-producing south and the Muslim north. Sani says the stakes could not be higher for the region. For now, Boko Haram's focus remains Nigeria, but as they become emboldened they will spread like a cancer throughout central and West Africa.